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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Brainy Girls

Having a good namesake is always a plus. Of course, academically-inspired names for boys abound--up until the last century or so, women in the sciences were pretty rare (and often given less credibility than their male colleagues). While many of these names are unknown today, most were quite renowned in their time.
And do I freely admit to being selective in this list by attempting to include as many fields, and unusual names, as possible. (there are so, so many more noteworthy Marias & Marys especially, as well as female physicians & astronomers!)

Abella (medicine, 1300s)*

Augusta Ada Lovelace (mathematics, d. 1852; constructed algorithms to be processed by a colleague's "analytical engine", and is thus considered the first computer programmer)